The concept of struggle and redemption is an integral part of life and as humans we love classic stories of people who turned all odds in their favor and acquired huge fortunes overnight. This is a story of one such guy whose luck suddenly turned around after a very dark period in his life.
Facing Trauma
Years ago, Loren Krytzer had a successful carpentry business, a family and a decent house in California that he was able to afford along with other luxuries in life. Year 2007 proved to be tough for Krytzer after an unfortunate car accident took away his career and happiness from him.
Following the accident, Krytzer spent most of his time in hospitals getting treatment for his injuries. Meanwhile, there was no one to look after his business and money was running out quickly. The crash of 2007 took a toll on Krytzer’s health, leading to severe nerve damage and several microfractures in his left foot. With no source of income, he was no longer able to afford expensive treatments so he decided to let his injured foot be, hoping that it would heal with time.
Krytzer thought that he would soon be able to return to work and things would go back to normal. What he did not expect was that his foot would soon become badly infected leaving the doctors with no other options but to amputate it.
Living in a Shack
Living on $200 a month before he sold his grandma’s Navajo blanket for $1.5 million
Krytzer was no longer fit to work and had been denied disability pension. With no salary or savings in his account, Loren was forced to send his children away to live with their grandparents because he was no longer able to provide for them.
He finally received a monthly pension of $900, out of which $700 covered the rent for a shack that he was living in. He had to live off the remaining $200 which was barely enough to feed him for the entire month. There were days when he would survive on a Costco hotdog and soda because that was all he could afford at the time.
Loren had given up all hopes that his life would ever change for the better but little did he know that an old blanket that had been handed down to him by his late grandmother would turn him into a millionaire overnight.
A Tale of an Old Blanket
Navajo blanket
Years ago, after the death of his grandmother, Krytzer stopped by her old house to collect any of her personal belongings that he could keep as her memory. Loren recalled that when he entered his grandmother’s house, most of her stuff had already been taken by his mother and sisters.
All there was left were a few clothes and a blanket that had been handed down to his grandmother by her mother. He picked up the blanket and put it in his car with the rest of her belongings that he wanted to keep and headed back home. Little did he know that the old family heirloom that he had just acquired was an antique piece from the early 1800s worth a huge sum of money.
A Life-Changing Sum
Selling the antique blanket for $1,5 million
Krytzer stowed the blanket in his closet and forgot about for seven years until one lucky day, when watching an episode of a television show called Antiques Roadshow where a guy found out that his Navajo blanket was worth half a million dollars, made Loren realize that he had a similar blanket lying around in his old shack for years!
After watching the episode, Krytzer pulled out the blanket from the closet, trying to match it with the one showed on the episode. To his surprise, the two blankets were identical! He took the antique piece of cloth to a few auctions in California. Initially he was turned away by brokers who thought that the blanket was a dupe, probably made in Mexico.
He finally found a company called John Moran Auctioneers that dealt with Native American artifacts and after finding out about Krytzer’s Navajo blanket, the company invited him to their auction where the family heirloom was bought for $1.5 million.
Krytzer with his wife after selling the blanked for $1,5 million
Making Smart Investments
To this date, the antique Navajo blanket is the most expensive item ever sold at John Moran. Krytzer, who had initially been told by the auctioneers that blanket might sell for $200,000 or less, was shocked to find out that someone was ready to pay more than 7 times the amount he had anticipated.
With his newfound riches, Lauren has decided to spend his money wisely by investing in stocks and bonds as well as buying two houses in California: one where he and his wife Lisa live and a second one which is being rented out.
Want to know why Navajo blankets are so precious? Find out here.
